the hub Prehistory Fremont and Pre-Pioneer Era

HONORS THINK TANK

(Top): Contour Map showing City Creek alluvial fan and relative South Temple and Block 49 landmarks.

In this eastern part of the basin, containing Sevier, Utah, and the Great Salt Lakes, and the rivers and creeks falling into them, we know there is good soil and good grass, adapted to civilized settlements. (John C. Fremont: 1988:276)

Portrait of Explorer John C. Fremont, 1813-1890

Regional map covering the different Fremont Settlements in the State of Utah

(Photo of an example of what an Alluvial Fan looks like.) Alluvial fans are fan-shaped deposits of water-transported material (alluvium). They typically form at the base of topographic features where there is a marked break in slope. Consequently, alluvial fans tend to be coarse-grained, especially at their mouths. At their edges, however, they can be relatively fine-grained.

Picture on right: Remains of a Fremont Indian Village (outline pit house) excavated on South Temple during (1998) TRAX construction. Site of excavation: Between 2nd and 4th West on South Temple.

Rio Grande Depot

Photo used from Grace and Grandeur: A History of Salt Lake City. (2001)

Fremont Culture Notes:

Today we call these scattered groups of hunters and farmers the Fremont, but that name may be more reflective of our own need to categorize things than it is a reflection of how closely related these people were to each other. "Fremont" is really a generic label for a people who, like the land in which they lived, are not easily described or classified. The Fremont culture was first defined in 1931 by Noel Morss, a young Harvard anthropology student working along the Fremont River in south-central Utah. Whether or not Fremont peoples died out, were forced to move, or were integrated into Numic-speaking groups is unclear, and even the matter of the postulated Ute/Paiute/Shoshoni migration remains a matter of spirited debate. It appears that the sudden replacement of classic Fremont artifacts by different kinds of basketry, pottery, and art styles historically associated with Utah's contemporary native inhabitants suggests that Fremont peoples were, for the most part, pushed out of the region and were replaced rather than integrated into Numic-speaking groups. This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that the most recent Fremont or Fremont-like materials, dating to about 500 years ago, are found at the northern and easternmost fringes of the Fremont region, in the Douglas Creek area of northwestern Colorado and on the Snake River plain of southern Idaho-areas at maximum distance along the postulated migration route of Numicspeaking populations. Information adopted from the Utah History Encyclopedia and please also see David B Madsen, Exploring the Fremont (1989) for more information.

Block 49 1986 excavation Located on the Westside of 200 West between 3rd and 4th South.

(Top): Recent evidence of Fremont Indian settlements existing in downtown Salt Lake City area. (Topographic Map of North Salt Lake City: USGS)

Random Collection of Artifacts: Found at South Temple Site

Photos of artifacts were used from Office of Public Archaelogy, Brigham Young University (in-Press)

Fremont clay figurines from Old Woman site (University of Utah Archaeology Center). 11.5 cm. The Freemont civilization lasted c. 400 or later to 1300 A.D. The cultural roots of its scattered horticultural settlements in the Great Basin are obscure, but probably a mix of local archaic traditions and Anasizi and Great Plains immigration.

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1847: On July 24 the first party of Mormon pioneers arrive in the Salt Lake Valley

AD 1300: Fremont occupation of the City Creek area ends 1300-present: Utah inhabited by Ute, Paiute, Goshute, Shoshone, and Navajo Native American tribes.

1776: Fathers Silvestre Velez de Escalante and Francisco Atanasio Dominguez seek a new route from New Mexico to California and explore Utah.

1821 Mexico wins independence from Spain and claims Utah.

1841Capt. John Bartleson leads first wagon train of settlers across Utah to California.

1300
July 4, 1776: American Declaration of Independence signed.

1776

1847